When it comes to recycling, a perforated line on the plastic film jacket of drink bottles can make a world of difference, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said at a press conference yesterday.
Traditionally, a tightly fitting plastic film is attached to most plastic drink bottles, which in addition to bearing the label and information about the beverage, shields the contents from sunlight and prevents them from spoiling, said Lin Chien-huei (林建輝), director of the EPA’s Recycling Fund Management Board.
“However, before the polyethylene terephthalate [PET] can be recycled, this film must be removed — which is not easy,” he said.
Most of the time, a large part of the film stays on even after the bottles go through electric processors, so a second processing or manual removal is required, Lin said.
“The removal process, then, is a waste of electricity, water and manpower,” he said.
The nation recycles 90,000 tonnes of PET bottles a year, which can be made into shopping bags, clothes, wigs or blankets.
But Lin said: “Incomplete removal of plastic film also contaminates the recycled PET material, making it difficult to be made into quality products.”
As such, since March, the EPA has encouraged drink manufacturers to design a perforated line on their plastic film so that ripping them off can be done more efficiently, Lin said.
“With the dotted line, the removal of the films went from 85 percent with processing by several machines and manual help to 95 percent with a single machine process,” Lin said.
Since the nation has a cradle-to-grave recycling policy, drink manufacturers must pay the EPA a recycling fee for every bottle they manufacture, Lin said.
“To give businesses incentives to design this dotted line — each manufacturer has to go through the process independently as they have different types of bottles — those with the easy-rip line would get discounts on their recycling fees,” he said.
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